Fresh Antiques

By Nathan Tavares

photograph courtesy of the antique & Artisan center

Who says you can’t improve on a great thing? Mari Ann Maher, new Managing Director of the Antiques and Artisans Center in Stamford, is looking to do just that. The center, owned by Mark Candido and Ron Scinto, is already a favorite destination for carefully curated antiques and collectibles. The huge space in downtown Stamford houses booths where over forty dealers showcase their treasures. “Here, you have all these people who have backgrounds in different things…It’s a very eclectic mix of dealers,” Maher says. Eclectic is right. Where else can you find a gilt Venetian mirror and a fully functioning pair of Russian World War II-era binoculars under the same roof? Plus, you can find items in every price point, in every style. (Maher’s current favorite pick are two barrel-backed French chairs in dark blue leather, which she raves “are just the chicest things.”) Maher, a dealer at the center for the past twelve years, and director of John Rosselli Antiques in New York City for over twenty, envisions bold changes for the center. First up is an extensive library, the construction of which is already underway in the center of the shop, which will offer coffee table books, as well as rare and antique tomes. Maher also hopes to host more book signings. Next is the in-house upholstery shop, which Maher says will carry exclusive fabrics carried nowhere else. You’ll soon be able to buy a knockout antique bench, select a unique fabric, and pick up the upholstered piece a short time later. Big changes like these are proof that just because you sell antiques, it doesn’t mean that you have to be completely old-fashioned.